


Stages of Grief

by TheSecondBatgirl



Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Turbo, Power Rangers Zeo, Power Rangers in Space
Genre: Forever Red, Gen, post-Countdown to Destruction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-18
Updated: 2011-04-18
Packaged: 2017-10-18 08:18:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/186851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSecondBatgirl/pseuds/TheSecondBatgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zordon is dead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stages of Grief

_Denial - Jason_

Jason's fist crashed into the wall. He was vaguely aware that his knuckles were bleeding, but it didn't matter. What did matter was that he wasn't in Angel Grove right now, and there was no way for him to get to Angel Grove. His city was being attacked, and he couldn't even do anything about it! Even if he got in the car now, it would be hours before he made it there.

He wished he had a teleporter. He wished that he still had his powers, any of them. He wished that someone he _knew_ was wearing the spandex right now. He wished that he could do anything besides sit in his apartment and watch the news, hoping that the new team could possibly prove themselves.

He could only watch as Bulk and Skull stood up and proved that they had grown up to become true heroes. Watch as his city stood up to Astronoma and said that they were the Power Rangers.

Watched as the new team outed themselves to the world.

He couldn't believe that they had done that. He could understand it on some level, the need to pay back Angel Grove for the gift that the city had just given them. But it wasn't just their secret to give away. It impacted them all.

Part of him wondered how he could even worry about things like that when Angel Grove was still under attack. When they still didn't know if any of them would survive. When they still didn't know if Zordon had been freed.

More than anything else, Jason hated feeling helpless. He needed to be out there doing something, anything.

A feeling of dread came over him, and somehow he _knew_ that something had gone wrong. Something had happened to Zordon. The world suddenly felt very cold. It was like the way he had felt the first time that he had lost his powers.

His phone rang.

"Jason," it was Trini's voice. "Did you feel that?"

"Zordon," Jason whispered. "No. It isn't..."

Trini was crying. He wasn't sure what he could do. All he could do was sit and wait for the official word, but until it happened, he was just going to go on and watch and hope and pray that he was wrong.

 _Anger - Tommy_

"You _bastard_ ," Tommy yelled at Andros. Jason and Adam were holding him back, but they weren't really trying. He was sure that he could break free. He saw the rest of Andros' team step in between him and Andros, trying to protect their leader. He looked at TJ in betrayal - he had given TJ his _powers_ , and now TJ was protecting a murderer? How could he do that? How could he have chosen someone so wrong to replace him?

Amazingly, it was Kimberly who made it through, her hand slapping Andros in the face. Not even a punch. "How could you?" she asked. "He was like a father to us! How could you kill him?"

Andros hadn't even tried to dodge the blow. He must have known that he deserved it.

"I did what he told me to," Andros said quietly, his voice even. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it," Tommy said coldly. "Stay away from all of us."

"Tommy," TJ said, stepping forward, reaching for Tommy, who jerked back away from him, nearly knocking Adam and Jason over.

"That goes for you, too."

He could hear Adam saying something to Carlos, saw Carlos flinch back, but he didn't catch it.

"We promise we won't tell anyone about your identities," Cassie said desperately.

Ashley hadn't even bothered to try and talk to Tanya, too busy trying to comfort the murderer, Tommy guessed. He turned his back on them, and the other Rangers followed him out.

 _Bargaining - TJ_

TJ watched as the older Rangers walked out. A part of him wanted to go after them, to talk to Tommy, to try and make them understand. The other part of him wanted to go with them, because a small part of him felt that same way that they did. It wasn't supposed to have ended like this. It shouldn't have come down to killing Zordon. If he had been better, if Andros had been better, then this could have all been avoided.

Zordon hadn't been his mentor, like he'd been for them. But he understood why Andros did what he did. He had saved everyone. He did what Zordon asked him to.

He only hoped that the Rangers could forgive him. And he hoped that he could forgive himself for not doing anything more. If they had been better, if they had been faster, then maybe it wouldn't have come to this. Maybe Zordon would still be alive. Maybe then he wouldn't be watching as the Ranger teams were being torn apart.

He just wished that he could do something, anything, to make sure that nothing like this happened again.

 _Depression - Andros_

Kimberly should have hit him harder. His team should have gotten out of the way and let the older Rangers attack. He deserved it, deserved every second of their hatred.

He had failed.

That was the only way to look at it. It had been his plan to search for Zordon. He should have been better, should have found Zordon before it reached this level. He shouldn't have been so concerned with finding Karone that he let what was really important fall apart.

He hadn't been good enough, and because of that, Zordon was dead. By his hand.

Andros just stood there, trying not to let anything show on his face. That was how he got by. That was how he survived.

"Hey," Ashley said, as she wrapped an arm around his waist. "It's going to be okay."

"No," he told her quietly, even as he accepted the brief comfort she offered. "It won't."

Because by his hand, the greatest force of good in the galaxy was dead.

 _Acceptance - Jason_

They said that time heals all wounds. Maybe that was true. It made it feel less raw, less immediately painful.

Jason ran his fingers over the edge of his morpher, his first one. It had restored itself soon after Zordon's death, but he hadn't wanted to touch it. Hadn't wanted to think about what it symbolized, what it could be. It was a part of his life that he thought he'd put behind him.

Tommy's message played again. "We're calling as many of the Red Rangers as we can. Look, Andros is the one who called. But we could really use you on this. Come if you can. Please."

Jason had listened to the message more times than he could count. He didn't know if he could go on a mission with the man who had killed Zordon.

Even though it was what Zordon had wanted. Even though it had saved everyone.

He stared at his morpher, and listened to the message again.

What would Zordon want him to do?

Picking up his morpher, he headed for the door. He had a mission to go on.

Besides, it wouldn't be the same without the first Red Ranger there.


End file.
